Chef at Michelin-starred Star Inn arrested over torture claims - For more hospitality stories, see what the weekend papers say

Chef at Michelin-starred Star Inn arrested over torture claims
A staff member at the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire, has been arrested and released on police bail over allegations of torturing two chefs in the kitchen earlier this year. One chef claimed his trousers had been set alight with a blow torch and that he had been burnt with red-hot pans on his arms, stung on the back of the neck with nettles and been beaten with a rolling pin. He also said he had seen another chef being held up by his legs while his head was dipped into a vat of lukewarm broccoli and Stilton soup that was later served to guests. North Yorkshire Police confirmed they had arrested a 26-year-old man in relation to the allegations. “We are dealing with the matter in accordance with our employment procedures,” said Jacquie Pern, who co-owns the inn with her chef husband, Andrew. “We are taking the allegations extremely seriously.” – 13 June, Read the full article in the Mail on Sunday >>

Veteran food critic Egon Ronay dies
World-renowned Hungarian food critic Egon Ronay, whose Egon Ronay Guide to British Eateries helped transform British eating habits and drive up restaurant standards, died on Saturday morning aged 94. Ronay, the son of a prominent Budapest restaurateur, fled to London as a refuge in 1946, where he managed three restaurants before setting up his own eaterie, the Marquee near Harrods, in 1952. After six years writing a column for the Daily Telegraph, Ronay launched his famous guide in 1957, inspired by the French Michelin guides. He was an early champion of top chefs such as Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc, who said in tribute, “He managed to really push up the standard of British cuisine. He was meticulous, a visionary, and he knew what gastronomy should be. There's no doubt that he had a huge, huge influence." Later, Ronay worked as a consultant with Welcome Break, the British Airport Authority and pub group JD Wetherspoon to improve the food offer. Ronay died after a brief illness at his home near the village of Yatterden with his wife and two daughters at his side. – 13 June, Read the full article in the Independent on Sunday >>
See also:
Egon Ronay, Britain's king of good food, dies at 94 >> 
Chefs pay tribute to 'visionary' Egon Ronay >>
Egon Ronay: An appreciation by broadcaster and friend Nick Ross >> 
Egon Ronay: man with a passion for good food >>
Good food pioneer Egon Ronay dies aged 94 >>
Farewell to Egon Ronay, the terror of the tea-bar, who helped transform British eating habits >>

Shot Cumbrian landlord returns home after operations
Harry Berger, the landlord of the Woolpack Inn in Eskdale who was shot by rampaging gunman Derrick Bird, was back to work this weekend for the Boot Beer Festival with his arm in a sling, having lost two fingers and a large chunk of his upper arm in the attck. Berger had been driving to bank the takings from the Woolpack Inn and his nearby B&B, Stanley House, last Wednesday when he encountered Bird in the village of Seascale driving from the opposite direction. Berger said the first shot went through his wing mirror and took off two fingers from his right hand. The second bullet, “went through my upper arm, leaving an entry wound the size of a lemon and an exit wound the size of a melon. It blew away all the blood vessels, all the muscles, the nerves and the flesh, but the bone was intact.” Although the police and a local family doctor were called to the scene, Berger was left bleeding in his car for 45 minutes until a nearby youth drop-in centre was opened and he was cut out of his car and taken by air ambulance to Cumberland Infirmary in Carlise. He has undergone a series of operations in Carlisle and at the Spire hospital in Leeds. Bird killed 12 people before shooting himself. – 12 June, Read the full article in TheTimes >>
 

Hospitality wins awards in Queen’s Birthday Honours
Eton Collection managing director Peter Tyrie and Toptable.com founder Karen Hanton were awarded Orders of the British Empire MBE for services to the hotel and restaurant industries respectively in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. MBE’s were also given to Amanda Martin, director and general manager of Belfast’s Park Avenue hotel (for services to the tourist industry in Northern Ireland) and to Michael Brooker, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, for services to the hotel industry. Rosalind Newlands, course director for Tourist Guide Training at the University of Edinburgh, scooped an Order of the British Empire OBE (for services to the tourist industry) while a Royal Victoria Medal went to Diane Isobel Wahlheim, head chef at Government House in Adelaide. A Civil Order of the British Empire OBE was awarded to Colin Dawson, chief executive of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions while CBEs were dished out to Prue Leith, former chair of the School Food Trust (for services to catering) and cookery writer Marguerite Patten, (services to the food industry), who both already hold OBEs. – 12 June, Read the full article in the Independent >>


AnthonyBourdain declares war on McDonald’s
Chef Anthony Bourdain has launched a scathing attack on fast-food giant McDonald’s in his new book, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine To The World Of Food And The People Who Cook. In it, he accuses the burger chain of “serving shit to children” (likening the burgers to “cardboard and soured onion” at best) and of “fucking with young minds” with merchandising that plays on children’s dread of not belonging. Bourdin writes that he is fighting a war against the “Evil Empire” for the “heart, mind, soul and physical health” of his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and that he is prepared to adopt what the CIA calls “black propaganda” to get her to see fast food as the enemy. His tactics include implying that Ronald McDonald has a bad smell, and a form of aversion therapy that involves planting something “yucky” – such as a sponge soaked with vinegar, a tuft of hair or a Barbie head covered in chocolate - inside a McDonald’s box,. – 12 June, Read the full article in the Guardian >>

Beer tax hikes have cost 35,000 pub jobs in the last 30 months
Spiralling beer taxes have cost 35,000 pub and club jobs in the past 30 months, according to Peter Bottomley, the Tory MP for Worthing West, who requested the figures from Parliament. Beer duty has soared by more than 25% in the past two years, while recession-hit customers and supermarkets selling alcohol at below cost price have added to the pub sector’s woes. Bottomley has called on the new coalition government to “start thinking of the consequences” of constantly raising the tariff. However, both the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph warned that alcohol faces a double whammy in next week’s emergency budget – a repeat of the 5% hike in duty announced earlier in March and a rise in general VAT from 17.5% to 20%. A minimum alcohol price is also being urged to combat binge-drinking.  Despite rising alcohol taxes, figures from HM Revenue and Customs and the Office of National Statistics show the tax take from alcohol has slumped by £730m, from £15.1b in 2008 to £14.4b in 2009. – 13 June, Read the full articles in the Sunday Express, the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph >>
 

Fast food outlet near school banned in landmark judgement
A High Court judge has ruled that Tower Hamlets council in East London acted unlawfully by allowing a fast-food takeaway to open just 500 yards from a school. The landmark legal ruling by Mr Justice Cranston means that councils will be forced to take the health and well-being of pupils into account during future planning decisions. The opening of the now banned takeaway, Fried & Fabulous, which sells burgers, chicken and chips, angered both parents and teachers at the Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School, which allows no chips, fatty foods, sweets, fizzy drinks to be sold in school to the 1,700 pupils. “Approximately 500 students remain in school at the end of the day to take extra classes and already several takeaway shops quite cynically open up specifically to make a profit from selling cheap junk food to vulnerable teenagers,” head mistress Catherine Myers complained to the council. The judgement comes a year after Labour-run Waltham Forest council banned a Jamaican fast-food outlet that was too near a primary and a secondary school – a line that many other councils are now considering. – 12 June, Read the full article in the Daily Mail >>


By Angela Frewin

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